A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The Fest Show

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Tewksbury’s theatre company produced and performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream on March 2 at The Bromfield School in Harvard, Massachusetts. The show was directed by Ms. Jade Scarpa & Connor Mangan ’19, and assistant directed by Mr. Conner Bourgoin, and it was performed in part of the Massachusetts High School Drama Festival.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a show written by William Shakespeare. In the show, Hermia is in love with Lysander but Hermia’s father, Egeus, wants her to marry Demetrius. Hermia’s friend, Helena, is in love with Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander run away together. Helena and Demetrius find them in the woods. Puck, Oberon’s fairy assistant, accidently makes Lysander and Demetrius fall in love with Helena. A subplot is Puck turns Nick Bottom into a donkey. Oberon, the fairy king, makes Titania, the fairy queen, fall in love with Nick Bottom. Nick Bottom is a part of the Mechanicals, a group planning to perform for the talent show.

This show has many amazing characters. There are the lovers: Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena. During the show, there are ups and downs to the relationships. Fights break out between friends. There are the fairies: Oberon, Titania, Puck, Moth, Cobweb, Mustardseed, and Peaseblossom. Oberon is obsessed with getting revenge on Titania and makes her fall in love with Nick Bottom. There are the Mechanicals: Nick Bottom, Flute, Starveling, Snug, Snout, and Peter Quince. The Mechanicals bring the humor to the show. Throughout the show, they practice for the upcoming talent show. There are the congregation members: Thesus, Hippolyta, Philostrate, Egeus, and the townspeople. They are the ones who host the talent show. Egeus starts this whole problem because he won’t let Hermia marry Lysander.

Because this show was written a long while ago, a few changes were made. Firstly, the time period was set in the 2000’s. Normally, Lysander is a male. In our version Lysander is a female, so the two women are in love instead. Typically, Titania is a female. In our version Titania is a guy. In the original, Titania has a boy she took from a village. In our show, we changed it to a dog named Muffin. These changes were perceived to make the show more LGBTQ-relatable and modern.

The Massachusetts High School Drama Festival is a competition in which many high school drama clubs compete against each other for awards. The set has to be assembled in under five minutes, and the show has to be 40 minutes or less. Eight schools were at the Bromfield school, and three moved onto semi-finals: Tyngsborough High School, The Bromfield School, and Peabody High School.

The first round went well. We performed 4th. The seven other shows were ​Frankie and the Gingerbread Boy, When She Had Wings, Scapin, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Boy at the Edge of Everything, The Chronicles of Jane: Book 7, a​nd​ Red Speedo. ​Brendan Flynn won an award for his portrayal of Nick Bottom, and Francesca Ligotti won an award for her portrayal of Helena. While Tewksbury did not move on, the audience absolutely enjoyed the show, with many laughs being had and a standing ovation after.